It had a similar shaped helmet as the one that had killed him though design was different. His fingers tightened around his makeshift weapon as he raised it above his head. The creature was looking the opposite way as it entered, not on alert. Patrolling. It began to turn his way as Ralis swung the cane towards it with all his strength. Metal connected with metal and the old cane snapped as the handle crashed into the Fallen’s helmet. The creature gurgled and fell to the floor, helmet curving downwards from the blow. It was still alive. In a panic he leapt atop of the creature with the broken end of the cane still in his hands. A primal struggle ensued as the two grappled. He had no idea what to do in his terrified state, instinct however did. The monsters four arms proved difficult to get around. Pulling one forcefully aside gave him a brief opening and in that moment he stabbed the jagged broken end of the cane down into the Fallen’s unarmored neck. The strange white gas fumed up from its neck as the near purplish blood spewed out. The creature gurgled and flailed all arms, two of them grabbing its neck in a vain attempt to remove the cane and hold itself together, the other two gripped his arm holding the cane. Frantically, Ralis struck the creature with his free hand till it stopped moving and kept punching. “It’s dead.” the Ghost exclaimed, “You need to stop, Ral. Drag it in here.” He tried to calm down. He sweated something fierce in the armor, wheezing hard as his heart raced. “I just killed something.” “You said you had before.” “I know,” Ralis said as he dragged the mess of a body down to the floor, “But that one was going to kill me. This thing…I mean it would have, but…I used my hands.” He had felt its life slip away in his grip. Even as much as he hated them, that feeling had been unsettling. He trembled as he lifted his hands up to look at them, covered in the blood of an alien. The Ghost sounded sympathetic as it spoke, “I know it’s a hard reality, but think of what they did to you. They’ve done worse to countless others, especially this lot. The House of Devils is as brutal as Fallen houses come. It’ll get easier, but for now it’s kill or be killed, Ral. There isn’t a friendly soul for miles.” Slowing his breathing, Ralis put a hand to his armored chest and closed his eyes. The thought of more Fallen houses disturbed him, how many were there exactly? He gritted his teeth and grabbed the fresh corpse and rolled it over. It was easier to not look at its face. “I’ll be okay.” “Let me out.” “What?” Suddenly he felt a pulse of heat along his left arm. “Will my energy out of you, I’ll check the Vandal for anything, you don’t know what to look for.” The heat grew and Ralis raised out his arm, imagining as if he was setting the current free. The heat dissipated and the Ghost flashed abruptly into reality, scanning the body. “Vandal?” he asked the orb. “The Fallen have a sort of caste system, this was a Vandal. The one you had killed before was higher in the chain of command, a Captain.” It grew silent and continued to scan the body. “No far range Comms system. It has a shock pistol and dagger. Light equipment, probably a part of a scavenging crew. Sounds like others are nearby, they’ll eventually notice it’s missing.” He took the objects his Ghost had mentioned off the corpse and examined them. The dagger was similar the longer blade the Captain had used in design just not length. The shock pistol was a brownish color primarily with a rough and intimating appearance. Along the top of the barrel were multiple spikes and this one in particular had a small blade attachment under the barrel like a bayonet. The dagger found a home to hang on his belt. The pistol his hand. “It we get a chance, I’d like to examine those more closely.” The Ghost said and then added, “I can’t tell you how they work exactly.” “I guess I’ll learn soon enough.” A clear diamond symbol appeared on his visor and blinked. “We need to move. Try not to engage if you can. You ran from the Fallen before, do it again.” Ralis slowly took careful steps out of the house and into the streets of Old Europe. It was clear for now, but he could hear the scavengers in the distance. Turning away from the icon on his visor, he looked back into the courtyard where his Clan had made their stand. Even now the scars of the battle still showed in the buildings and holes in the street. Thankfully he couldn’t see any bodies from here. That he couldn’t deal with. Even if some had managed to get away from the Fallen it was more than likely they were dead by now. However long [i]now[/i] was. They had tried to push through what was once Germany according to the maps, hoping the Fallen would be more inclined to stick to the their large ships near the oceans and eventually reach Russia in search of the Promised Land. Now he had to continue that journey. “Ral?” the Ghost questioned at the pause. “Sorry,” he looked back down the street, “I'm just...am sad their gone.” Slowly he began to walk towards the clear diamond icon display. The Ghost allowed this for a while before speaking up again. “Can’t you…go faster? Jog maybe?” “I could barely walk before now, this is as fast as I have ever gone without my chair.” That damned machine sighed again. “You’re going to have to try.” “Look,” Ralis started as he struggled with walking faster. “I’m sorry you picked me to bring back, maybe you made the wrong -blam!-ing choice with the guy who’s never ran before.” The Ghost appeared in front of him, geometry pinching together as it floated close to his face, halting his steps. “You’re not a mistake. I know this is hard, and this is far from ideal for both of us. We[i] need[/i] each other. The city [i]needs[/i] you. The world [i]needs [/i]you. I can’t explain why, I just know.” The orb dissolved into his armor again. “Every Guardian is needed and I just want you safe.” Ralis stood there, in the middle of the ruined streets of a once great human civilization, surrounded by enemies, stranded alone, and cried silently. Clenching his bloodstained fists as he felt all forms of emotion, he took a few slow steps and then began to run. The ground came rushing up at him as his face slammed into ground and he skidded to a halt. The Ghost said nothing and Ralis could only lay there, laughing and crying at the same time. ([b](Next Chapter-[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/193629947/0/0 )) (( [b]Table of Contents-[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/193252449/0/0 ))